Industrial Hemp Licensing Information

“Industrial Hemp” means a plant that is limited to types of the plant Cannabis sativa L. having no more than three-tenths of 1% (.3%) tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contained in the dried flowering tops, whether growing or not; the seeds of the plant; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of the plant, its seed or resin.

In December 2018 the federal Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (“Act”) otherwise known as the “2018 Farm Bill” was signed into law. The Act removes cannabis having a THC content of .3 percent or less otherwise referred to as “Hemp” from the list of prohibited Schedule I drugs under the federal Controlled Substances Act. 

The Act allows the legal cultivation of Hemp subject to an approved state regulatory scheme and local control. To that end, the State of California enacted California Industrial Hemp Law as codified under section 81000 et seq. of the California Food and Agriculture Code.

The County is currently accepting Industrial Hemp License applications on a First-Come, First-Served basis until a maximum of twenty (20) Industrial Hemp licenses or licenses totaling three-thousand (3,000) acres have been issued.  

Chapter 11 - codified

You can read the 2020 Ordinance Amendment in its entirety here.

You can read the 2021 Ordinance Amendment in its entirety here.

Click here for the Colusa County Industrial Hemp Cultivation License Application (To be submitted to the Community Development Department)

Click here for the Colusa County Industrial Hemp Processing License Application (To be submitted to the Community Development Department)

Click here for the Industrial Hemp Registration Application and Destruction Plan form (To be submitted to the Colusa County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, however a copy of both will need to be submitted with your Colusa County Industrial Hemp Cultivation License Application to the Community Development Department.)